* Paris Suite is a part of MF Husain's 88 oil on canvas paintings, marking his 88th birthday

September 18, 2019

On late artist Maqbool Fida Husain, better known as MF Husain’s 104th birthday on Tuesday, an exclusive collection of artworks depicting his life and works, including Paris Suite and Mahabharata Series and Hardcover Books, were showcased.

In 2004, Husain held the first exhibition of his limited edition serigraphs of Paris Suite at Pictures & Frames, Mumbai. The show lasted for 25 days from April 21 to May 15, 2004 and met with a huge success. Husain’s personal framer, Ashish Ajmera, the curator and owner of Pictures & Frames, purchased a few serigraphs from the series and later invested in serigraphs and limited edition books on the influential painter.

Paris Suite is a part of MF Husain’s 88 oil on canvas paintings, marking his 88th birthday. Four cities, Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata and Paris served as the setting for this series. Speaking of the works, Husain told Khalid Mohamed, “I’m merely trying to collate my experience of 60 years through the paintings. Through men, women, plants and birds…I’m not narrating any story. The exclusive rights of Paris Suite rests with ARA Frames”.

In the series, Husain depicted Vedic, Christianity, Buddhism, Jainism, Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Taoism, Sikhism, Islam and Humanism. Each artwork from this series draws upon the history and symbols unique to the particular faith with a composition and richness of colours which is signature Husain.

The Mahabharata series is an edition of 350 artworks simultaneously honouring and appropriating the epic and relevance of the stories, issues and images that the legendary artist derived from the Mahabharata.

In the series, Husain depicted Islam, Vedic, Christianity, Buddhism, Jainism, Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Taoism, Sikhism and Humanism. Each artwork from this series draws upon the history and symbols unique to the particular faith with a composition and richness of colours which is signature Husain

The company will launch the limited edition series exclusively on http://www.araframes.com on September 17. Initially, 25 limited editions, signed and numbered artworks and 15 books will be released. The rest will be released over a period of three months.

Speaking about the limited edition launch, ARA Frames director Ajmera said, “Husain sir was always fascinated by prints. He used to tell me that he wanted his work to be accessible and high quality serigraph prints allowed him to do so. After 15 years, I am thrilled to open my collection to the public. The Indian art and framing industry is going through a rapid paradigm shift. My team and I plan to start ARA Foundation next year where we utilise 15 percent of the funds sold from every limited edition artwork to promote skill development in art and framing education in India.”